Things You Should and Should Not Do When an Insect Goes into Your Ear

Although the thought of an insect in your ear is extremely disgusting, it’s good to know few things what (not) to do in case this situation happens. Adults can easily detect if there is something in their ear, since the ear canal is sensitive. But, children, on the other side, can’t.

This situation usually happens at toddlers and children under the age of 8, because in this period of their life, they are extremely curios and learn about the environment, their bodies, and some interesting objects. According to Medicine Net, children stuck typical foreign objects, such as cotton swabs, beads, beans, and small toys inside their ears by themselves.

In addition, it might happen an insect to crawl or to fly into the ear canal while the children are outside or they sleep on the floor. It might cause great pain because of the loud buzz and movements of the insect.

What to Do

In this kind of situations, pour some warm baby oil, mineral oil, or olive oil inside the ear to pull out the insect. The insect will suffocate and float in the oil bath.

In case the eardrums are perforated, don’t pour oil because it might cause ear pain, bleeding, and discharge.

In addition, while pouring the oil in the children, pull the earlobe backward and downward, whereas in adults backward and upward.

Alcohol is another solution to pull out the insect. Take one cotton ball and soak it in alcohol. Then, squeeze it in order to let a few drops fall into the ear. The insect will be forced to go out because of the strong smell of the alcohol.

Another tool to pull out an object from the ear canal is to use some warm water and a bulb syringe. But, have in mind that this tool is only useful if the eardrum is not perforated.

What Not to Do

Do not use tools such as cotton swab or match stick to probe the ear, because they can push further the insect inside your ear and cause additional damage to the eardrum and middle ear. If you damage the middle ear, it might result in hearing disorders.

Do not put fingers inside the ear because that can make the insect to sting, leading to even worse problems. Even when the the insect will come out, the ear canal may be irritated because of the left insect parts inside it.

Removing an insect or object with wax can cause problems, too. It can provoke loss of hearing or pain when it blocks the passageways. This situations occur because of an excessive Q-tips use. You might be thinking that you clean your ears in that way, but, in fact, what you only do is pushing the wax and the skin cell debris further into the ear canals.

To sum up, in case you are not what harm can the object or the insect do to your ear canal, consult your doctor immediately.